Field
The invention relates to a test adapter for an electronic product to be tested, the test adapter comprising a support structure and a product stand supported on the support structure for the product.
Description of the Related Art
Test adapters are used in electronics industry during the product development phase or production phase to test the operation of the designed prototype or finished product. The product being tested, i.e. DUT (Device under test) may for instance be a terminal for a radio network, such as a mobile phone used in a cellular radio network. A test adapter is a platform belonging or attachable to a testing station, through which the product being tested can be connected to the systems of the testing station for the purpose of testing the operation of a transceiver or user interface, for example.
The basic structure of an adapter comprises a product stand supported by a base, i.e. in practice on the base, on which the product, such as mobile phone, is placed. The product stand may be made of plastic and in its basic shape it may be a lowsided rectangular tray, for example, in which the shape of the tray is to some extent in the shape of the bottom of the product being tested. The product stand may be exchangeable for each product.
Known adapter models use one or more small electric motors and/or pneumatic cylinders, which move locking brackets in relation to the product stand and the product on it, to lock the product in place on the product stand. An electric connection to the product is also achieved in the known solutions by using one or more small electric motors and/or pneumatic cylinders in such a manner that the electric motors/pneumatic cylinders move connectors and/or contact pins supported to the support structure into contact with counter-pieces, such as I/O ports or other connectors, on the product. Electric motors/pneumatic cylinders are in contact with the bottom surface of the support structure made of aluminium, for example, and by means of a lifting or lateral movement, they move one or more locking members into their locking position and a contact pin or a corresponding connector into contact with the counter-pieces on the product. In a known adapter, there are three small electric motors under the support structure. In a traditional adapter model, it is possible to form, by means of holes penetrating through an aluminium support frame, for instance, an electric connection from the testing system through the support frame to the tested product located on the product stand which is on the support frame. The connection may naturally be a two-way connection, so that the testing system can both supply an excitation signal and measure the response of the tested product.
However, there are problems related to the known solutions, especially to the need of several electric motors and/or pneumatic cylinders and to the costs they cause in the manufacture of adapters. The locking of the product onto the product stand is a specific problem.
Thus, there is a need to develop a novel test adapter that is capable of reducing the number of problems in known solutions.